The Karnataka police on Wednesday had approached the Pune special judge to permit them to grant the custody of the alleged top urban Maoist leader P Varavara Rao who has been alleged as the key accused by Pune city police in the Elgaar Parishad which triggered the violence at Koregaon Bhima.

The Karnataka police claimed that he was a wanted accused in the 2005 Tumkar Naxal attack case registered with them.

79-year-old P Varavara Rao hails from Hyderabad and is an activist and poet. He is currently in judicial custody at Yerawada Central Prison in Pune. He was arrested by Pune Police on August 28, 2018, in the Elgar Parishad case along with activists Sudha Bhardwaj, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves and Gautam Navalakha.